Cory Monteith, who passed away from an accidental overdose on July 13, 2013, was fondly remembered on the one-year anniversary of his death. Many fans of Glee focused on how the show, its stars, and of course his girlfriend, Lea Michele, were faring. But we tend to so easily forget that Cory, apart from his character on the hit show, had a life outside of it. If you thought his death was hard on Lea, imagine what his mother, Ann McGregor, felt like. Now Ann is speaking publicly for the first time since her son's death.

McGregor, 63, was interviewed by ABC News' Bianna Golodryga, and the footage aired on Good Morning America on Thursday morning, June 17. McGregor's words are so moving and most likely would touch any parent who was forced to bury their own child.

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"The loss is horrendous," she said. "Until three days ago I couldn't look at a picture of Cory ... So there's been progress." That must have been even harder for McGregor to avoid images of her son, considering all the publicity and media attention Cory's untimely death at 31 garnered. Just heartbreaking.

"[When] Cory was 15, he did a code blue, and I think that was the turning point," she explained when Cory had once overdosed. "He had a lot of emotional things he was trying to figure out -- a lot of it was he really wanted a relationship with his father. I think when a child gets invalidated they keep reaching even harder. They want to find out why."

McGregor divorced from Cory's father, Joe Monteith, and he wasn't invited to Cory's funeral, so it seemed McGregor believes that some of Cory's inner turmoil had to do with that broken relationship. But she and Lea do actually keep in touch. "She's hurting too ... you see the sadness. I know her pain."

But she also believed that no one is to blame for Cory's choices but Cory -- and here's her advice for other stars going down that path: "I don't think we have power to change the choices they're making. I think with the kind of connection Cory and I had, if we couldn't prevent that situation, I don’t have the answer. What could I say to them? Live every moment. Grab the second."